The Unluckiest Girl In The World
by Xavior Nightshadow
Summary: A post season 5 fic. Jinx shows up to help the Titans just in time, as a wave of young criminals make their move on Jump City, one right after another! And in the middle of a crime wave, Slade prepares a plan of his own...
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was a calm day at the Tower. Well, as calm as it ever got - Beast Boy and Cyborg were roaring taunts back and forth as they played their favorite videogames, Raven was hidden deep in her room as per usual, and Starfire was making breakfast for Robin, who was deep in thought. Star turned to him as she pulled breakfast off the stove. "You seem very concerned, friend... Is there something you wish to speak about, Robin?"

Robin looked up at the Tamaranean. "It's... Slade, Star. You saw him, he's back... He's been back... An entirely different group of villains has attacked... And he's nowhere to be seen? You'd think Slade would want to get in on a plot like that..." Robin sighed. "He's never passed up an opportunity to take over the city before..."

Beast Boy poked his head in to the room, hearing the line about Slade. "Actually, Robin... I saw one of his 'bots just after we beat the Brotherhood... but I totally scrapped it... Sorry."

"And you didn't tell me because...?"

Beast Boy hung his head. He knew exactly why he hadn't told Robin, or any of the others - because it was connected to Terra... The girl he loved... The girl who didn't remember him. And he didn't want to tell. So instead he just shook his head. "Sorry, dude... Besides, it's totally scrapped now... and it was a while back... I think he's just... taking a break, or something."

Robin's expression darkened. "More like plotting. Slade doesn't know how to take a vacation..."

Suddenly, a frustrated roar came from the direction from the living room. "AHH! I was just about to beat my high - aahhh..."

The other Titans, Raven included, came from their respective rooms to investigate... And found themselves staring into the face of evil. Or, more accurately... The face of a complete nerd.

"Greetings, Titans!" Control Freak's voice boomed through the comm channel. "I have come to extend a challenge in the name of my dark master!" Robin's eyes widened a bit in surprise as a Slade mask filled their screen... Then narrowed again in annoyance as the camera zoomed out to reveal that it was, in fact, just Control Freak wearing a mask. _Not funny... For a second, I thought it really was Slade..._

"Like the mask?" Control Freak's voice was high with excitement. "I got it on Ebay. You guys are never gonna believe this! They found it in a volcano, and it was under the city, and - "

Beast Boy interrupted him quickly. "Um, we believe it. Can you... ya know... Get to the point?"

"Oh, right, right." Control Freak continued nonchalantly, although he hadn't just been almost school-girl like with his arch... nemesis... es. "Challenge! Come to the Jump City Convention Center... Where today, a large event is being held! An event full of various innocent bystanders! If you do not arrive quickly, I will be forced to take..." The screen darkened, Control Freak using an easily visible flashlight to make his face glow, "drastic - " The flashlight went out, and Control Freak spent several minutes shaking it while the Titans waited, the batteries eventually charging up properly, "drastic measures!"

"Gotcha. We'll... uh, we'll be there." Robin sighed, closing the comm channel. "Alright, team, let's take care of this... C'mon, we'll take the T-Car."

* * *

Jump City convention center... a gathering point, a hot-spot one might say, for the most impressive of nerds. The most devoted to their art. The most...

"Weird, yo." Cyborg glanced around, noticing the number of people in strange costumes.

"Don't make eye contact," Raven joked. She was used to getting odd looks herself - the cloak had a tendency to draw attention - and she doubted any of the other Titans were foreign to attention either. "If you can see them, they can see you."

Beast Boy laughed, realized what he was doing, and arched an eyebrow. "Rae, were you just... funny?"

"You'll never prove it," she muttered, floating into the crowd. "Let's find Control Freak and wrap this up."

Robin nodded. "I agree, guys. Split up, and let the rest of us know when you find him."

The Titans voiced their agreement, and soon each was in his own corner of the complex. Robin spotted someone who looked like Control Freak and moved in quickly, only to run into... "Starfire?" Robin arched an eyebrow. "I thought I told you to split up... Didn't you go the other way?" He analyzed the Titan again. "Did you get... taller?"

The cosplayer realized who she was looking at, and a shreik pierced the air. "Robin? KAWAII DESU!" She latched on, and Robin struggled to get free. "Look, Star... I like you, but... this isn't the time, okay? Seriously... and why are you speaking Japanese? And why did you just call me cute? And what does 'desu' even mean, anyway? Lemme go!" He pushed away, rushing after Control Freak, but he had already lost him. "Damn..." He looked back toward the cosplayer, quickly realizing her as a fake now that he had a bit of distance. _I thought Star was acting really weird... no wonder._

On the other side of the room, Control Freak was laughing maniacally. "I knew this would work! They'll never find me in time... And when my bomb goes off, I'll destroy them all! It's a shame I have to sacrifice so many fellow fans... But confusion is guaranteed at TitanCon! And now, to make my escape!"

"Yo, dawg... That's wrong on so many levels." Cyborg grinned. "First off... blowing up a convention full of nerds? Show some love, man... Second off... you're still wearin' your Slade mask. Third off... nobody gets away from the Titans!" He leapt over the couple of cosplayers in the way between him and Control Freak, making sure to make himself visible. And then he screamed, "Titans, GO!"

And they went. The entire con was up in arms, cardboard Bird-A-Rangs and bouncy-ball Starbolts flying through the chaos as the Titans tried to regroup. Control Freak had managed to use the chaos to get away from Cyborg, and it didn't look like the team was gonna make it. Control Freak looked back, letting out a harsh laugh. "Victory is mine, Titans! Sayonara!" And then he dropped, a vicious right putting him down, a pink-haired girl looking down on him. The pimply-faced lad gazed up, his eye locking on the figure of Jinx. "Where... where'd you come from?"

"Your right side, dork." Jinx leaned in, poking him in the closed eyehole present in every one of Slade's masks. She looked up at the Titans. "'Sup, guys?"

Cyborg gave her a little wave from across the crowd. "Not much."

Control Freak looked around desperately, barely aware, and pulled out a detonator. "I've still got this!"

Jinx tossed a quick kick, knocking it flying, then launched a pink energy blast that caused the detonator to fall apart completely. "Not anymore. You want me to wrap this guy up for ya, Robin?"

The Boy Wonder looked at her and nodded, surprised. "Go for it..." The cops arrived, Robin having signalled for them earlier when they arrived, knowing that with Control Freak, the case wouldn't take long. Jinx tossed the trembling young man into the back of the car and looked back at the Titans. "So, uh... guys..." Jinx gave them a strange look. "Can I maybe... Stay a while?"

Cyborg nodded. "Sure! Although... it's gonna be a tight fit in the T-Car."

Jinx shrugged. "I'll make do."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Brotherhood of Evil had been defeated. The Titans had become a world-wide organization. And yet, with the threat of Slade looming on the horizon, some of the Titans couldn't relax. Unfortunately for Robin... some of them could.

"Oh yeah, I won!"

"No way!"

"Hahaha! Cyborg got his butt kicked by a girl!"

"You wanna play, green man?"

"Bring it!"

Robin pulled himself away from his database long enough to yell out a harsh "QUIET!" that nearly shook the tower. The living room was quiet, and for a few, blissful moments, so was the rest of the tower.

"I'm the champ! Oh yeah!"

"No way, I lost?"

"Well," muttered Raven, helping their team leader sort through a huge stack of evidence, "it was nice while it lasted."

The Boy Wonder nodded. "Why did we invite her to stay at the Tower, again?"

"Well, we took out the H.I.V.E. and then she ended up betraying the group she was staying with, so she doesn't have a home because she decided to join us," Raven took in a deep breath as she continued her explanation, "and she's an honorary Titan, not to mention Cyborg's friend, so it's - "

"- The least we could do," Robin finished. "And she did help with Control Freak, not to mention the last couple cases."

Starfire floated in. "Indeed! Remember Dr. Light? I have not seen someone so surprised since the day I was to be married! The look on Robin's face that day was almost as amusing, but I think the Doctor Light was victorious!" She giggled, remembering the fight, and Robin gave a little laugh of his own, remembering Tamaran. "Good thing we stopped that little plot," he said. Then he looked toward his teammate. "So, did you need something, Star?"

"Oh, yes!" Starfire exclaimed, remembering her purpose in coming in. "I have prepared the lunch... of normal Earth foods," she finished upon seeing the worried faces of her teammates. "and I fear that if you do not hurry, there may be none left - Cyborg was quite hungry."

Robin nodded. "Okay, Star... I'm not making any progress in here anyway. I'll come and..." He looked out to the kitchen, a scene of near total devastation. "Star, I think I was too late..."

Cyborg gave him a satisfied nod. "Way too late, my man."

"Okay," Jinx sighed, putting a hand up in surrender, "you win that one..."

Cyborg laughed. "That's right! I'm the 5 time eating contest champion! Remember it!"

The pink haired girl gave a mischevious grin. "As long as you remember how bad I kicked your butt at Super Virtua Brawl 4."

The expression on Cyborg's face darkened for just a moment. "Oh, I remember," he said as he roared back to life, "and that's why your butt is goin' DOWN in the rematch!"

Jinx skipped up, taking off for the couch. "Bring it, metal-boy!"

Starfire giggled at her companions as she continued working on lunch for the Titans who hadn't gotten to eat yet, though Raven gave her the usual "I'll have tea" when she was offered. Robin sat down in anticipation, still deep in thought on the subject of Slade. "I don't get it," he finally admitted. "By now I'd have expected Slade to have acted... but he's only sent one bot, and it didn't even do anything major, according to Beast Boy. But there's been nothing but minor crimes... nothing even remotely connected to Slade."

Raven gave it some thought of her own, finally coming to a conclusion. "Well, what is he after?"

Robin gave her an odd look. "He wants to take over the city, you know that!"

She nodded. "And something else, too. Every time he's shown up... not counting when he was working for Trigon," she clarified, using the demon's name rather than referring to it as "my father", "he's gone after one other thing."

Robin suddenly grasped the point Raven was making, and his eyes visibly widened. "An apprentice?!"

Raven gave him a quiet nod. "It would make sense... He'd have given up on you, of course... and Terra is dead... So he's probably waiting for another potiential apprentice." Her reply seemed to have motivated Robin to action, and he was back at his computer by the time Starfire turned away from her cooking. The Tamaranean could only sigh in disappointment, bringing the plates over and setting the one meant for the Boy Wonder before Raven, sinking into another sigh. Raven gave her a sheepish smile. "He is... quite dedicated." Starfire.

A nod from Raven. "Ever since our first battles against Slade, he's been worried about the team."

"Do you think he will be sucessful?"

"Honestly? No." Raven glanced over at her surprised teammate, who seemed almost betrayed by this lack of trust. "It's not that Robin's not good at this kind of thing, but... Slade knows how to hide from us. And..."

"And?" Starfire raised her eyebrow, eager for an explanation.

"He's too close to the issue. He keeps thinking about how the team's been hurt in the past... And he can't focus on the present."

Starfire nodded in reluctant acceptance, nibbling at her lunch. "You are... very understanding, Raven. Have you spoken with Robin on this?"

Although the compliment elicited a grin from the demonness, she had to shake her head at the second part. "No... I don't think he'd appreciate it if I pointed it out. We're not that close... It might feel like a betrayal of trust to him, and... Well, people don't trust psychics. There's no way I could prove I didn't read his mind."

Starfire gasped. "Surely Robin would not believe such a thing!"

"He might, Star. Like I said, psychics aren't really well trusted... And he doesn't think I'd understand how Slade works, I'd imagine."

"But... we have all witnessed Slade's crimes!"

Raven gave a little nod at this. "But he's only paid personal attention to a few of us. Robin, Terra... me, when Trigon had sent him. He's a different person in that situation... It's... somewhat unnerving. I never told the team, but... When he was alone with me, he showed me... the prophecy... come true. The world destroyed... and all of you dead. And I think... he enjoyed it."

Starfire gave another little gasp. "How horrible!"

"I don't doubt he was just as cruel to Robin... After all, Slade almost killed us in front of him... Which is why Robin is so fanatical."

The solemn moment was broken by a curious, pink-haired head, popping in and taking stock of the situation - and the untouched lunch. "You guys... uh... gonna eat that?" Jinx gave a nervous grin, and the other two girls smiled, Raven sliding the plate to their new teammate.

Sometimes, ignorance really was bliss.

* * *

The day passed almost uneventfully, unless you counted a subsequent 9 crushing defeats for Cyborg(and Cyborg most certainly did). In fact, crime seemed almost non-existant. Until, of course, just before dinner. And then... Robin got just what he was asking for. The comm channel, and several major news networks, found themselves broadcasting a surprise announcement, from none other than... "Take the mask off, Control Freak."

"Why Robin," came the smooth reply, "I'm offended. You haven't forgotten my voice already, have you?" Slade himself grinned at the Titans - and most of the city. "But, as I'm not interested in you yourself, I thought I'd start a little test. To the young villains of the city... I have a grand opportunity waiting for you. The only requirement?" His eyes narrowed. "Destroy the Titans." A grin curved, barely visible under the faceless mask. "Robin, I do hope you remember it was you who said nothing had changed... I beg to differ. There is a very big change afoot here... And it begins now, Boy Wonder." The transmission faded, and then... nothing.

Dinnertime came and went, Cyborg cooking (and BB making tofu, of course), and more gaming followed, Jinx adjusting pretty well into daily life at the tower. The city seemed to have ignored Slade's ominous announcement. And then... It happened.

"Hey, guys... you even gonna show up?" A familiar voice rang out from Robin's communicator.

"How did you get this frequency, X?" Robin opened the channel quickly, staring directly into a face that had once been his.

"Oh, it wasn't that hard. Anyway, are you going to show up?"

"To... what exactly?"

"Oh, right." Red X waved his hand through a nearby laser, setting off the alarm. "You should be getting a call soon. I'll be waiting." The channel clicked off, and sure enough, right as it did Robin got the call.

Red X had made an attack on a chip, the fourth and latest prototype in a formerly 3-disc series Robin had picked up long ago. And now, in a Wayne Industries building...

The war had begun.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Author's Notes: Thanks for the couple reviews so far, guys! I really appreciate it. And thanks for the play-by-play there, Insanity... I'm always working to better my writing. I see what you mean about distinctive speech, and I think I do pretty well with Star, but sometimes it's hard with the others to really communicate those little nuances without making it seem overblown, neh? Still, thanks. And don't worry, there'll be plenty more characters later, and thus more opportunity to go over things in dialogue.

Red X had to grin. This suit had gotten him far. He honestly wasn't worried about Slade's big "opportunity" - he had been planning this heist for months, and Slade's little announcement had just been good fortune. And besides... a guy like that had to be connected if he was funding the kinds of stuff Slade was apparently into, and they had a common enemy. So he'd take the extra job - and see just how well Slade could repay him. He had a feeling it would be pretty impressive.

But in the end, it came down to a simple fact: Red X loved his thrills. And fighting the Titans was always a thrill. The thief smirked, leaping over a diving Starfire and her volley with a sharp "Hah!", throwing his weight down as he landed on her back, pushing her to the ground and flipping away. "Sorry, cutie, but - Ah, damn!" X ducked quickly away from a couple swipes from an angry Robin's staff. "Guy can't even finish a sentence around here..." A pair of xenothium blades formed, parrying away a powerful swing from the Boy Wonder. Red X took advantage of the pause to look around - just in time to spot a raging rhino Beast Boy rushing for his exposed back. He flipped away quickly, BB rapidly detransforming as he approached the Titans' unexpecting leader. "Oh, snap..." The words formed on the changeling's lips just as he tumbled right into Robin, leaving both of them in a tangled heap. Red X had to chuckle - things had rarely gone so well. That is, of course, until a huge mechanical fist entered his view. "Not fair..." the thief muttered, bracing himself for the impact and sliding back from the impressive punch. "Let's go, then." He tossed out a quick series of attacks, but it was clear that he was no match for his opponent's mechanical might. "Screw this, then." He flipped quickly over Cyborg, popping open the back hatch in a practiced movement, just as a desk flew at his old position, splintering on contact with the bracing Cyborg. Red X could only give a little "that coulda been me" gulp as he kept working. "Thought I told ya, little man," Cyborg yelled, twisting around in an attempt to dislodge his opponent. "That ain't gonna work! I got an - " A sudden shock brought the Titan to his knees.

"An upgrade?" You could almost hear the smirk. "Yeah, you might've mentioned it... so I did a little upgrading of my own." The Titans were pulling themselves together, but Red X quickly disrupted them with a volley of explosives, leaving only Raven in his sights. "Alright, let's finish this!" The thief ran forward quickly, trying his best to stop the already-chanting Raven - and he might have suceeded, if his feet hadn't given out from underneath him, leaving him open to a reflexive kick from Raven that struck him in an extremely sensitive spot. "ZINTHOS!" Raven finished her chant, a nearby computer monitor flying into Red X's chest, sending him flying and leaving him winded. Realizing he needed to finish her quickly or risk the Titans regrouping, he fired a goo X, which Raven quickly dodged - only to step onto an explosive X he had fired with his other hand. "Boom." The thief looked on his work - they weren't quite "destroyed", but they weren't much in fighting shape, either.

"Ya missed one." A girlish voice, a tap on the shoulder. X turned quickly to confront this new opponent - only to recognize a familiar face. "Hey, you're that H.I.V.E. girl... the one who keeps getting her butt kicked by the Titans." Jinx frowned, and X assumed she was remembering her defeats - he certainly wasn't happy whenever he was foiled by the heroes. "So, anyway... two things. One, I ain't sharing, so you'd better move. Two... Maybe my math is off, but I count 5 down-and-out Titans. Which one did I miss?"

And as another kick slammed into that ever-vital area, Red X realized which Titan he had missed. "But... you're not... a Titan," he groaned, doubled over.

Jinx smirked at him. "I'm new." A leg swung around quickly, knocking the thief flying. He got up - by now quite winded - and spotted exactly what he had feared... recuperating Titans. "Adios, freaks..." Spotting a window behind him, he dived out, sliding down the building and out of sight to go nurse his wounds and sell off his prize.

_Man, those guys don't fight fair...

* * *

_

The Titans had recuperated quickly, gathering up on the floor where they had recently fought X. Robin was irritated that the thief had escaped him again, but the team was okay. "Nice save, Jinx. Good work tripping him up for Raven, too... But next time, work quicker. I know you were trying to protect your identity as a Titan, but most villains already saw you when we fought the Brotherhood, so it's no good now. If you try something like that again, you could seriously endanger the team."

Jinx gave him a resentful look. "Jeez..."

"Don't take it too hard," Cyborg offered, "that's just how Robin shows he cares. The day he doesn't start complainin', THAT'S when you're in trouble."

"Anyway, team, we need to get to work on pursuing - " Robin's communicator interrupted him in the middle of his sentence, and he flipped it open, a short, terse conversation informing the Titans of their next objective. "Fang... I don't know if they're doing this on purpose, but it's one right after another - don't expect to relax tonight, Titans. We need to split up... But how should we split?"

Raven was the first to volunteer. "Cyborg and I can probably handle Fang... And we're the most disadvantaged against Red X - he knows how to shut me up, and Cyborg's systems aren't safe any more... The rest of you should go after X... he's a lot more dangerous."

Robin nodded in agreement. "Good plan, Raven. You heard her... Jinx, BB, Star, you're with me. Good luck, everybody... When you two are done, contact us so we can regroup."

"Will do, my man," Cyborg said. "We should wrap up spider-boy pretty quick."

* * *

"I'm so EXCITED!" Kitten let out an ear-splitting squeal as she and her boyfriend raced down the street, making their escape from Fang's latest robbery. "I just know you can beat those Titans! But you heard him... This is a big opportunity for us, so don't screw up, okay, Fang-honey?" The look on Kitten's face suggested what would happen if he did, and the huge gray spider that was his head bobbed in agreement. "Sure thing, kitten-dove. They'll probably be here pretty soon..." His head swung from side-to-side, and sure enough, a trash can was hurtling for the villanious couple. "Knew it!" A couple blasts of webbing later, the can was glued to the wall. Cyborg and Raven moved out of their hiding spot, each rushing for the duo. Kitten was the first to notice. "But, but... where's Robby?" Her lip quivered in disappointment. "Fang can't destroy you all if you don't all show up!" 

Cyborg was the first to respond. "Ain't no way bug boy is takin' us down ANYWAY!" He leapt forward, barely dodging a blast of webbing, and slammed his fist into an expectant Fang, who slid back before tossing a powerful blow of his own - a dropkick with both legs, his spider legs holding him off the ground as he slammed full-bore into the mechanical Titan. Cyborg slid back a bit, caught off-guard by the attack. "Oh yeah! Get 'im!" Kitten leapt into the air with glee, along with a shrill shriek of "kick his butt!"

Then she was brought crashing down to earth as a nearby hydrant popped open, spraying the annoying girl with water, the force great enough to send her skidding. "Hey! Leave my girlfriend alone!" Spotting Raven and putting two and two together, he shot a spray of webbing at her, hitting her directly in the face and leaving her momentarily distracted as she pulled on the webbing, leaving Cyborg to continue trading blows with the teenage villain. She eventually freed her mouth of the stuff, and spit a little bit out, shuddering. "Nasty..." She looked around, ready to get back into battle - and found herself face-to-face with an opponent, now drenched and highly aggravated. "You... are in... sooooooo much trouble!" The blonde's scream was nearly enough to put Raven out of commission, and the next thing she knew, the girl had tackled her - she rolled quickly and tossed Kitten off, but the humiliated girl wasn't even close to done. She lunged again with a nasty swipe of long nails, Raven sliding back to dodge and then tossing a kick into Kitten's extended wrist, Kitten quickly recoiling and screaming. "Fangy-poo, GET HER!" She pointed right at Raven before pulling her hand back to cradle her injured wrist, and her boyfriend quickly moved to comply, pincers clicking as he closed on the Titan. He swung his legs around, using his spider-legs again in a familiar tactic, and Raven had to brace herself for the impact, sliding back a few inches. "Azarath... Metrion..."

"BOOYAH!" A bright blue energy beam slammed into the unexpecting youth, knocking him flying into a car. He got up groggily, but the Titans clearly had the upper hand, and Kitten could see it clearly. Her lip quivered again, this time in rage and fear. "I'm... I'm... I'm TELLING DADDY!" The girl rushed off, leaving her injured boyfriend behind as she took off for home.

"Should we stop her?" Cyborg raised an eyebrow in concern.

Raven just smiled. "I think we'll be okay. Let's tell Robin."

* * *

"Good job on Fang, guys..." Robin looked around the dark alley he had tracked Red X too, in East Jump City. "Head to our location. We're still on Red X's trail..." He closed the communicator, only to be greeted as soon as he looked away with a concerned pair of bright green eyes. "He is not here, Robin... I fear the Red X has escaped us again..." 

Beast Boy nodded. "He got away, man..."

"Pretty quick, too. I don't think we're gonna find him," Jinx admitted.

_No, you won't, Titans... But I've found you... and soon, so will every young villain in the city..._

Satisfied, a mastermind ordered his robotic servant to retreat into the shadows.

_And then the fun really begins..._


End file.
